What’s New in Ubuntu 9.10

WorksWithU reported a couple weeks ago on new features in Ubuntu 9.10, like kernel mode setting and GRUB 2, that are likely to please geeks. But Ubunti 9.10 (codenamed Karmic Koala) will also sport changes aimed at traditional users. Here's a look at a few of them.

They include...

Ubuntu One

WorksWithU reported a couple weeks ago on new features in Ubuntu 9.10, like kernel mode setting and GRUB 2, that are likely to please geeks. But Ubunti 9.10 (codenamed Karmic Koala) will also sport changes aimed at traditional users. Here’s a look at a few of them.

They include…

Ubuntu One

Perhaps the hardest-to-miss addition to Ubuntu 9.10 is the Ubuntu One client, which comes installed by default under the Applications>Internet menu. The application allows registered users to share files between Ubuntu computers by simply dragging and dropping them into a folder in their home directory, or through a web interface.

I was impressed with how seamlessly Ubuntu One worked in Ubuntu 9.10, given the alpha/beta status of both pieces of software. Signing up for the free Ubuntu One plan, which offers 2 gigabytes of online storage, was a snap, and file sharing worked seamlessly even on a flaky wireless connection. I’m still processing my thoughts on other aspects of Ubuntu One and hope to dedicate a post to it soon.

Goodbye Pidgin, hello Empathy

Another significant change in Karmic is the replacement of Pidgin with Empathy, an instant-messaging client built by Gnome developers. The decision to drop Pidgin was influenced, among other factors, by its lack of support for video chat and convoluted software overhead.

When I tested Empathy last winter, it was still missing some important features. I haven’t had a chance to play with Karmic’s build of the application yet in any detail, but it’s presumably been brought up to speed to become a full replacement for the functionality offered by Pidgin.

Of course, although Pidgin was removed from the default desktop software stack, it’s still only an apt-get away for those who don’t take well to Empathy.

Gnome interface changes

Last but not least, some minor tweaking has been applied to the default Gnome desktop. In particular, I was happy to see the System>Shut Down/Log Out menu restored even when the fast-user switching applet is visible. This feature was removed in Jaunty, making the user-switcher menu the only easy way to end a Gnome session, which never quite felt intuitive to me.

An entry for the Gnome Control Center has also finally been added to the System>Preferences menu in Karmic. This application, which is similar to the Control Panel in Windows and allows users to configure various aspects of Gnome, was always available in Ubuntu, but the only way to launch it in previous releases was from the command line. Making it more visible is a good move.

Karmic won’t bring any revolutionary changes to the default desktop software stack, but there have been some useful overhauls of individual components. Provided the backend of the system is also solid (note to Ubuntu developers: I’d love to have an ath5k wireless driver that finally works without a fuss), Ubuntu 9.10 looks to be a promising release.

74 comments

Is this for real? Empathy sucks. Yet again Canonical shoves an ugly unfinished product down new users’ throats. PulseAudio should not have been installed by default until it was finished and worked well. Empathy should not be installed by default until it is finished and works well. This will happen eventualy, but it hasn’t happened yet.

Please, focus on making the system stable and usable, not on breaking things with “updates” that we don’t want or need.

Grr: I haven’t yet used the newest version of Empathy myself to any meaningful extent, so I’ll give Canonical the benefit of the doubt for the time being that it’s sufficiently functional. Also keep in mind that Pidgin is easy enough to install if that’s what you want, although non-geeks are more likely to stick with what comes by default, whether it’s the best application or not. In any case, I do think it was silly of the Pidgin developers not to take video chat seriously, which is one of the chief reasons Canonical has chosen Empathy.

Jon: nice to know. ath5k keeps crashing for me under heavy load, and ath_pci doesn’t seem to have a strong enough signal to reach my router, but I didn’t give wicd a try yet.

Raul: no, there’s no VPN plugin for wicd. You can install wicd and NetworkManager at the same time–this is what I did in a similar situation–if you dpkg –force-install wicd, but you shouldn’t do that unless you know what you’re doing.

whats hilarious is the fact that now pidgin offers video chat and file transfers that work with both yahoo and gtalk. removing the “reasons” they chose empathy…
overall, i am not near as excited as i was about jaunty. i installed ext4 when i installed jaunty. its fast, stable, and the new message overlay system rocks (for the most part). It doesn’t seem to boot any faster for me, but hey, we are only in alpha 4 right? maybe they will surprise me! oh yea,

p.s. ubuntu one is just a knock-off of dropbox…o0o0 wow! sorry had to add a jab in there 🙂

3+ years Ubuntu user and Ive always used Pidgin and like it a lot. I like being able to see the protocol icon too… ICQ, Yahoo, Skype, etc, which Empathy doesnt have.

Neither of these support ICQ video. ICQ is a HUGE chat program and the one my wife uses. I spent hours trying to get a linux chat program with video working before her trip to Europe to visit family. Im stuck trying to get it to work in ICQ, and nothing supports it (that Ive found).

For now, I have to wait until I get into work where people use WinXP and I have to use someones computer to hook up a webcam and do video chat on ICQ. Its a workaround, yeah, but thats not exactly what I was hoping for. It would be nice to just plug in the cam, run Pidgin and do the chat in ICQ.

While I know I shouldn’t be comparing Ubuntu releases with Windows, I just can’t help feeling these new releases are actually just servicepacks to Ubuntu in general. And, to that avail, poorly tested ones (including regressions with almost every release). Then again, I also know I should stop whining and start testing alpha releases, but the amount of time required (proper testing takes *a lot* of time) is currently a showstopper for me.
Let’s hope there won’t be any new, unfinished components by the time the new LTS ships next year…

Let’s hope that they’ll swap Pidgin back in over Empathy before they release. Granted, I haven’t used the newest Empathy, but I think it’s better to go with the easier to use and more functional application by default and let geeks switch to Empathy if they want.

Ubuntu Never fails to disappoint me with Every Release…. They have been Talking about a Major UI change for the last 3 releases now and keep delaying it. Karmic was suppose to be the Release to be Promised! to have a completely new look… and yet again Mark Shuttleworth has Put his foot in his mouth and not delivered….. I know the final release is a little while off yet…. But I would bet My bollocks that I am right and this release will fail deliver the completely new look Yet Again…. arghhh It’s Like having a girlfriend that does nothing but Lie to you! lol… its frustrating…. and yes I know the theme is easily changed manually blah blah, But why promise something and get people hyped up and fail to deliver for 3 releases in a row!? It makes people lose faith in canoncial….
Ahwell… same Pooey brown Ubuntu with a crappy theme for Karmic it looks like….
Hopefully Pulse audio will FINALLY work properly this time… that would be a start.

Bah! Linux Mint has delivered what Ubuntu has been promising for a Long time…. Even if Ubuntu do deliver a new Look/interface…. It will be a half ass job not even half as good as what the Mint devs have accomplished…. Afterall… after much talk from Mark shuttleworth of having a Great new theme in the last couple releases… we ended up with a very unprofessional crappy new couple of themes… you know what im talking about…. Dust and Darkroom. Ugh! What a joke… Lets wait and see how Ubuntu Karmic will stack up against Windows 7…. hmmmmm, Windows 7 with a beautiful modern looking transparent theme vs a Pooey brown ugly outdated Ubuntu Desktop…. gee I wonder which one will give the best impression….. Ubuntu may as well adopt Kde 4.3x and dump gnome… Then Maybe Ubuntu will have a better shot… lets face it… Kubuntu devs have alot to live upto… they can’t give a good kde distro… they need more help and support from canoncial…. $$$ they might aswell join forces and give the Best Kde Distro that Linux can Offer and Win over more Windows users. Gnome just doesn’t cut it.

And does it really matter if Ubuntu delivers a new theme/UI? The results are just going to be EXACTLY the same as they’ve been the past few years, only reversed. The people that like the current theme (myself) are going to hate it, and the people that hate the brown, and have been begging for change will love it. No Difference at all.

I find the arguing over this or that app kinda funny. I mean isn’t that the thing with Linux distros in general is choice. If I like Pidgin better than the default Empathy well I can install Pidgin and get rid of Empathy. If I don’t like the current theme change it.

I’m running Karmic since a day or so. I was extremely hesitant about Empathy replacing Pidgin, but it’s not so bad actually. I was growing tired of the somewhat bloatsome nature of Pidgin, so I gave the Karmic-provided version of Empathy a run.

It’s not bad. I’m using it now. It has multiple protocols just like Pdigin, does all the protocols I want (XMPP/MSN) and is stripped down and lovely. I’m fine with it.

“Windows 7 with a beautiful modern looking transparent theme vs a Pooey brown ugly outdated Ubuntu Desktop…. gee I wonder which one will give the best impression”

are you serious? the customization of themes in windows and macs are ridiculous. you change ubuntu around so much and have it look any way you want. you can’t do that with windows or mac. if you don’t like what they give you you are stuck.

[…] What’s New in Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic won’t bring any revolutionary changes to the default desktop software stack, but there have been some useful overhauls of individual components. Provided the backend of the system is also solid (note to Ubuntu developers: I’d love to have an ath5k wireless driver that finally works without a fuss), Ubuntu 9.10 looks to be a promising release. […]

The Default theme/Look of Windows 7 is wayyyy better than any theme you can install or change on an ageing gnome Desktop…
I do however Really Like what Kde has done…. Kde 4.3xx is customizable as much as you like if you want a different theme, but it still looks friggin Awesome out of the box without changing anything! Kde has got a much better shot at competing with Windows/Mac as far as a Modern Desktop Environment is concerned…. I agree that Ubuntu + Kde is a winner 😉
Gnome 3 is a joke

Don’t know but each release I see that nothing’s being done besides kernel and core updates. And also need to agree with @pro noob, Gnome lately has been sucking. Time passes by and nothing new is being done there. How many developers working on it? It seems that if I were working full time there much more would have been done. That said, I think the default window manager should now be KDE. Despite fancy look I think that team is much more compromised in bringing innovations to Linux UI than the Gnome team. By the way, Canonical has been pointing innovations/new themes but again, (thanks @pro noob) sadly, no shit’s being done.

Ah, and I don’t like the Ubuntu One by default. It reminds me those AOL icons on win95.

“The Default theme/Look of Windows 7 is wayyyy better than any theme you can install or change on an ageing gnome Desktop…”

I don’t care. First off don’t use windows don’t need it and is only forced on me by work with deals I had no say in.
second this is your opinion on windows 7 – how do you know someone else won’t hate. it is all relative. beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

if people want to upgrade because windows 7 is better looking than go for it. I have better things to do with my money and the computers I use with kde and gnome work just fine and utilize new technology such as cloud computing and are there for me to use not so I think they look pretty when they are first installed.

bet windows 7 is just as hard to customize as xp was because microsoft thought it was good looking enough. windows 7 is nothing but vista version 2 because version 1 was a flop.
at least with ubuntu I can try it out and if I don’t like I can stick with what I got and upgrade on the next version that I like or move to another distro that I prefer.

I can tell you write I think gnome and kde blows windows 7 away as far as looks, function, and price.

I’ve played around with a few versions of Linux over the past decade, but I’ve never been able to use it as my primary OS.

Why?

It won’t run the programs I need to run.

The free alternatives suck.

For example. Nothing comes close to Adobe CS4.

Open Office is nice, but it’s lacking in so many areas. It will probably be ten years or more for it to catch up to where MS Office is today. And of course, MS Office keeps evolving as well.

Blender – nice try, but frankly it sucks. The user interface is horrible.

Consider this – Linux and Open Office are both free. Anyone can use it for no out of pocket expense. You’d think most people would want to save the few hundred dollars Microsoft charges for Windows and Office combined.

AFAIR the reason for switching to Empathy was not related to the lack of any features in Pidgin but simply because Empathy became a core part of an upstream project (Gnome). Also, it is very strange to read comments like “Yet again Canonical shoves an ugly unfinished product down new users’ throats.” because this was exactly the reason why Empathy was not included in 9.04, even though it already became a core part of the stable Gnome version included in 9.04.

IMO the move to Empathy is a good thing because Empathy puts less focus on protocols on which the open-source community has NO control whatsoever. For instance, if an upcoming Ubuntu version ever would be promoted with the sentence “full Windows Live Messenger compatibility”, Microsoft easily can make the release look like a disaster by changing the protocol on the day of the release so that the “full Windows Live Messenger” will be conceived by user/media as a big lie… Microsoft cannot decide about the success or failure of a release in a similar way if Ubuntu choses to only focus on open protocols like XMPP….

It’s said on the article that the control panel can only be activated by the command line. This is incorrect (my apologies to the author, Christopher Tozzi).

In the current and previous versions (I think 8.04 but not sure about it) what you have to do is to right click on the Ubuntu symbol/edit menu/system and the check the control panel. After this just go to system and there you go.

–BEGIN RANT–
I am sick and tired of hearing about Ubuntu’s brown theme.
If you don’t like it, SHUT UP AND CHANGE IT ALREADY!!!
I happen to think it’s beautiful the way it is, but I didn’t stick with it! Right now I’m using a blue-black-orange theme, a hacked version of the Dust theme, and loving the way it looks! Brown/Orange are Ubuntu’s colors, plain and simple. Please don’t ever change it; it wouldn’t be Ubuntu! For what it’s worth, I can’t stand the Mint interface. The wallpapers and GRUB screen are lovely, but the panel, default icons, and menu look so outdated, it’s pathetic. But I don’t complain about that to the developers every release. If I used Mint, I’d just download and install a new theme and shut up about it.
As for KDE, I love Plasma. Plasmoids are leagues above Screenlets and Desktlets, but KWin is useless for theming. Every window border I’ve ever seen for KDE is either shiny silver or 90’s-style.
I do hope Ubuntu One gets rethought. Rename it to Canonical One and create a client for other desktops, it ain’t right the way it is now. On the other hand, it gives Ubuntu another thing that sets it apart from the rest of the pack. There’s no point in every distro offering the exact same things, that would kill the purpose of choice. But closed, proprietary apps are not the Linux way!
Empathy vs. Pidgin is not the real issue here; the major advantage is Telepathy. Telepathy blows Purple out of the water as far as functionality – Tubes are going to redefine the way we do Social.
So let’s all stop and think for a minute about what Ubuntu has done. Canonical has managed to create the most newbie-friendly distro to date. How many people would use Linux if they had to jump in feet first to Gentoo or Slackware? But instead of thanking them for all they’ve done, we sit here and gripe about how ugly the brown wallpaper is. Sometimes I almost think we deserve Windows.
–END RANT–

Considering that the Ubuntu One client is open..and is using open protocols…if its popular enough someone is going to reimplement the server side process so that it can be made distribution agnostic and runable as a private cloud service inside something like a corporate network accessible via VPN if need be. Canonical doesn’t have to be the entity that makes that happen. The underlying CouchDB technology is already peer aware, so there’s no central service needed really..as long as the peer syncing is exposed correctly. Keep watching to see how Gnome upstream chooses to integrate CouchDB functionality into the gnome framework for all Gnome applications to use..outside of how its used in UbuntuOne. If this is popular functionality it will get re-implemented as a core piece of desktop technology without the branding quibbles that UbuntuOne has.

“I’ve played around with a few versions of Linux over the past decade, but I’ve never been able to use it as my primary OS.

Why?

It won’t run the programs I need to run.

The free alternatives suck.

For example. Nothing comes close to Adobe CS4.

Open Office is nice, but it’s lacking in so many areas. It will probably be ten years or more for it to catch up to where MS Office is today. And of course, MS Office keeps evolving as well.

Blender – nice try, but frankly it sucks. The user interface is horrible.

Consider this – Linux and Open Office are both free. Anyone can use it for no out of pocket expense. You’d think most people would want to save the few hundred dollars Microsoft charges for Windows and Office combined.

But they don’t. That alone should tell you something.”

well your arguments would be could if they were true.
all the proprietary apps you mention suck and the the free ones are the best quality. they don’t crash every ten minutes and the computer is actually there doing work for me not the other way around.

there are tons of people who are finally realizing that they should not be paying for windows and have discovered open source. why do you think microsoft is so worried and threatening lawsuits and such just to scare people away.

open office rocks and doesn’t lack anything. from what people tell me everyday good old office 2007 went back a few years instead of progressing. everyone I know that uses office 2007 says it sucks and have switched to open office.

the only reason people use it at work is because of back room deals that are made with vendors and the consumer doesn’t really have choice.

I don’t mind at all UbuntuOne being installed by default. If you don’t like it, Edit menu and untick the box and then untick it in the startup application list and you won’t see it and you’ll never know it’s there. I am hoping it will be a source of revenue in the future. Even though it’s working fine for me, it needs more features added to it which they are planning. Looking forward to see what they can do with it.

Will Empathy have webcam support? I hear that Pidgin is finally adding video.

@ suezz and mclvor,
I think what that guy meant is that We All want to see Linux Beat Windows… We all want Linux, probably especially Ubuntu, to Give Micro$oft a run for their money and attract as many Windows users over to linux as possible…. and one way to do this that is not over the top, is have a new look/theme that can compete with the modern look of windows 7 / mac osx etc. We all know that the theme can be changed to whatever you like.. but lets face it… The Majority of People Do not like the Look of ubuntu’s ageing desktop/user interface… First impressions Means ALOT to a user who hasn’t used Linux…. some people will try it out and change the theme and be happy, but A heck of alot of people look at ubuntu and say… ewww, what a crap O.s… And i know this because I have tried to convert Lots of people over from uni over the years… thats usually their first reaction… some people like it, but MOST windows users laugh and say its a piece of shit without even exploring it further.
If Ubuntu had a modern Theme/user interface that looked just as polished and Modern as Windows 7, etc…. it would attract ALOT more windows users by Looks alone! Then hopefully they will also like how the O.S functions and not give a 2nd thought to using windows…. The people who are happy with default ubuntu are a small minority… the Majority of Us users want to See improvements and watch the distro Prevail.

Don’t take offence… Its a fact that most people judge a book by its cover… and Ubuntu’s Cover is very Ugly Indeed.
and I also agree that Kde is the gui to compete with the rest of the competition…. If somebody offered you a free car… gnome was the Old rusty 1968 Ford, and the other car (kde) was a 2009 Ferrari… which one would you be impressed by at first glance? i’de pick the Ferrari 🙂 Looks isn’t everything to me in a desktop, don’t get me wrong.. but if your trying to win people over… then YES LOOKS IS VERY IMPORTANT….

Yes.. I truly agree to Ubuntu User (37th comment)… the first impression is the look…Even though we want open source to dominate.. the reason why people are behind Windows is the look… Windows 7 has animated boot screen and a crystal cut desktop even without customization.. But just look at Ubuntu…. people hate to look at such a blank desktop… they don’t think that Ubuntu is the one of the most stable Os and can be customized to any extend where windows can never reach… First Impression Counts…

On the other hand if you show a Windows User, a system with Sabayon Linux 4.0 or higher installed, it’s sure that he/she would be attracted. Sabayon uses K-Desktop Environment, and you feel the desktop like a PLASMA…

And shame on windows that they have copied many eefects form Ubuntu and Sabayon… Pity on them…

I appriciate the efforts of Ubuntu developers. SO many in our office have thrown Vista and using Ubuntu today. I can laptop without OS now.

Some feedback now. Ubuntu 9 never worked on Acer Aspire laptop. I had to use Ubuntu 8.10.Drivers might be the issue, but Ubuntu need to be careful before making changes. You have reached to a level where big IT companies started using Ubuntu’s name to negotiate well with Microsoft while buying licenses. Keep up the great work.

A lot of people I chat to on-line want video chat. they use it in Windows and can’t understand how I can’t use it in Ubuntu. If Empathy makes life simpler for developers and brings video chat for users then it’s a worthy replacement.

I have just got a Compaq Presario CQ61-135TU purchased specifically to run Ubuntu Linux I can load Ubuntu but no joy getting the sound card or wireless internet working or (Web cam or Data card these are not so important)can anyone help me please **get the right drivers to get the sound card or wireless internet working?** OR DO I NEED TO WAIT FOR THE NEXT RELEASE? The funny thing is the wireless internet works in Fedora but not the sound and in Ubuntu no speaker sound or wireless internet, please help I am going round the bend

Paul: we can’t provide technical support on WorksWithU, but if you could please register an account on ubuntuforums.org and make a post there detailing your problems, you should find someone who will be able to help you out. Also check out http://www.ubuntu.com/support for other support resources.

Matthew Paul Thomas wrote an interesting usability comparaison between Empathy and Pidgin. Some of the problems pointed by that document are already fixed in Empathy 2.24.0, others will be in 2.25.x. — see here https://wiki.ubuntu.com/EmpathyVsPidginUsability

AND…

Seems lots of users are complaining about the lack of supported protocols in Empathy. In fact all protocols implemented in libpurple are easy to enable with empathy thanks to telepathy-haze. All you need is a .profile file describing some features, the icons to use, etc.

So the developers are adding those profiles by default now but they need some info about protocols they have never used themselves: gadugadu, myspace, qq, sametime, simple, snpp, zephyr.

1) need to know yes or no those features are supported:

* chat-p2p – Private chat.
* chat-room – Chat with multiple users, the XMPP/IRC way, not MSN-like which is private chat where we can invite more members.
* chat-room-list – List public rooms on a server, like XMPP/IRC do.
* voice-p2p – Private audio call
* contact-search –
* split-account – account are in the form of user@server.com, in that case the “@server.com” can be omitted and replace by a default value. For example gtalk profile have that feature so you can type “myaccount” and it will be translated magically to “myaccount@gmail.com”
* registration-ui -The possibility to register a new account on the server, like XMPP.
* supports-avatars – Does contacts have avatars, can I set my own avatar.
* supports-alias – Does contacts have alias, can I set my own alias.
* supports-roster – Is there a list of contacts for that protocol?
* video-p2p – Private video call

2) For protocols having split-account feature need to know the default domain to use. For example the gtalk profile says to use “@gmail.com” if the user didn’t type his full ID.

3) For each of those presence need to know yes or no they are supported by the protocol:

* offline – obvious
* available – when you are online, ready to chat
* away – when you are af, automacitally when you don’t touch your computer for a while
* extended-away – whn you are afk for a long tim, automatically set when you are away for a while
* hidden – You are online but don’t want others to know that
* do-not-disturb – You are working on other things and don’t want to chat

“I mean isn’t that the thing with Linux distros in general is choice.”

Right. You have a choice between 1,000 different half-assed buggy programs that all do the same thing, because Linux is all about ego.. I mean choice.. and developers can’t be expected to cooperate on the same program if they have trivial differences of opinion about how to proceed.

But they’re Free™!, and that’s more important than whether they actually work or not. If the program you’re using crashes constantly or doesn’t have a feature you want, just download a different one! And then when that one doesn’t work, get another one. And then another one.

Robert Kent: Don’t even bother. Ubuntu will never run the programs you want, because people like suezz are the ones making the decisions about what to focus on in developing Ubuntu. They think the free, crappy programs are better than the proprietary programs that real professionals use, and so there’s no point in trying to support them. They think that 95% of computer users choose Windows over Ubuntu purely because of Microsoft’s marketing, even though Ubuntu is 100% free of charge and Windows costs money. They will never get it.

@yeah….
I smell a Troll………
If you are happy using Windows then what are you doing looking at pages about Linux? Stick to your Windows and keep your ramblings of unhelpful garbage to yourself…

“developers can’t be expected to cooperate on the same program if they have trivial differences of opinion about how to proceed”

Different groups of people develop different projects…. Why would everybody work on the Same thing??? That would be stupid, The more projects that are out there then the more variety is available to suit different peoples needs… In windows you are pretty given 1 choice… and if you don’t like it, then too bad. I prefer to have choice and change anything and everything to suit my needs.

“Ubuntu will never run the programs you want,”

Thats funny…. I’ve been using Linux for about 3 years now and I do EVERYTHING I use to do in Windows with no problems… Sure there are alot of crap programs out there, but there are also alot of crap programs in Windows… especially the ones made by microsoft. There are also ALOT of Great Programs in Linux to suit Everybody’s needs. Hell…. I Create beats in Linux, Record Songs, Play psx, sega, n64, mame Games, Play a couple of my favourite Windows games using Wine, Do all my Office work in OpenOffice, burn cd’s, listen to music, watch movies, download torrents, talk on msn etc etc etc! And I havn’t had ANY problems.

So… My conclusion is that your just a Troll who hates Linux, probably because you had a bad time adjusting to the learning curve and stuck to Windows because you find it easier.
You can keep windows… I don’t need it, And WE don’t need it. Do you ever see Linux users go into Microsoft Windows forums and start Trolling? I have never seen it. So if you don’t Like linux, shutup and Stop viewing and posting on pages on Linux.

[…] blognbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;ubuntu linuxnbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;ubuntu news As WorksWithU reported last week, the Gnome application Empathy was set to become the default instant-messaging client in Ubuntu […]

ARGGHHHH Yes we know that Karmic kangaroo….. you just don’t get it… we are talking about presentation and competition against the other O.Se’s out there…….. it IS a big Deal! Although us Users will constructively criticise…(some not well worded as others, or constructively) but still…. we post our frustration with things that don’t work right, or what we think is lacking because we Want the Devs to be aware and hopefully Improve of the things the community think is weak….. Every O.S has its Strong points and Weak points… no matter what! But if Nobody opens their mouth on what they don’t like… then improvements won’t get done! Thats the whole point of the Linux Community… to Speak your mind constructively… report bugs to help improve the next release cycle, ask for features YOU think is important…. and HOPEFULLY they will listen and implement it….. its all about the Community…. even those like myself who aren’t progammers can still help and give back in some way or another, whether its helping newbies in the forum, or reporting bugs, or suggesting brainstorms etc…. The COMMUNITY is what its all about! We can ALL help in some way or another… Even if its something small like what i suggested, or make a great wallpaper for a specific distro etc…. We get Alot for NOTHING so its only fair we Give back in some way or another!
kaddy

Good point kaddy….. I actually agree…. and I also agree with the constructive criticism of Ubuntu’s art/themes…. We all love Ubuntu, but the fact is that the user interface/gnome looks outdated and crap. (no offence, it just does no matter what theme you apply to it)
It’s time that Mark Shuttleworth Kept his Promise and improve the theme/user interface to be able to compete with the big boys out there…(mac osx and Windows Vista/7) Mark shuttleworth said in his own words that he would hire an art team to make Ubuntu Modern and beautiful to make even the mac look dull… and we have seen Nothing but empty promises for the last 2 versions of ubuntu, Karmic to be the 3rd if this release also fails to incorporate….
Ubuntu has the potential to compete with Windows 7 and Mac! the only problem is that it LOOKS LIKE SHIT! Improve that… and Ubuntu will have an Attractive, appealing Look, PLUS will work well Like we All know it does… hence, will attract New users over to Ubuntu/Linux. LOOKS DOES COUNT! LETS IMPROVE THIS CRAPPY OUT DATED GNOME DESKTOP! OR REPLACE IT WITH KDE 4.3X
Don’t mean to offend Long time gnome users who are happy with an outdated desktop, but THIS IS A BIG DEAL! WE NEED TO COMPETE WITH THE BIG BOYS! AND WE HAVE THE POTENTIAL!

Now, I am one of those windows switchers everyone keeps talking about.

I was once a windows user, not knowing that Linux (and especially Ubuntu) had so much to offer. All Linux was for me, and every single “normal” Windowsuser, was: not too complicated or difficult, but too time eating – time that a normal user does not always have – all this changed with Ubuntu.

I dont dual boot in to Windows anymore – I use Ubuntu all the time and I actually bought a 360 to play games and to use it as a Entertainment Center. I really must say: after all the blue-ish stuff on Windows, after all those glossy and shiny themes you see in every corner, Ubuntu does fit my taste perfectly – I LOVE the brown and orange mix. The other thing I like a lot: the login Musik and everything that kind of reminds me of Afrika. Like a user far above said: it is all relativ – do you prefer chocolate ice-cream, or are you the mint or lemon-type of guy? Whatever your choice might be, does it make the alternativs bad? No. Only different.

What I would like as a non-Linux-tech-User and ex-windows (user):

a) For a Windowsuser MSN is often the messenger of choice – especially here in Europe (Germany) and especially for all those teenagers out there. So, MSN-VIDEO support would be awesome. But this is only for the EU or German part of the world. I can not speak for the rest of the world, just from what I have seen and noticed so far 🙂 (every single person I have asked here in German/Frankfurt uses MSN)

b) A welcome movie when first entering the system after a fresh install – like in MAC OS X. Makes ya feel right at home.

c) A nicer GRUB OS selection screen. Take one or two boot-seconds if you wish, but give me something nice to look at 🙂 Most non-geeky ppl dont care if it boots in 12,10 or 8 seconds. The difference is minimal. It should be ajusted to fit the needs of the mass market and non-experienced user. The advanced user can still take it all out or ajust things easly, the normal user can not, will not, or does not have the time to. This IS a mainstream OS, is it not? “Linux for human beings” 🙂

d) VSYNC enabled by default or enabled at all. Screen tearing is KILLING my eyes. Other than that: I LOVE the way everything from text to tabs, borders etc. look like. All smooth and easy on the eyes.

e) I want more themes to choose from. Maybe they should integrate something like cairo-dock into the system. It does not have to be on by default, but it should be available to choose from directly inside the theme-manager. More themes means more choice wich means more tasty and different ice-cream for the verious users out there.

f) I forgot about this one.

Its late and I just wanted to speak this out. I have been showing Ubuntu to my friends and family – so far they have LOVED it. There are a FEW adjustments that have to be made, as soon as they have been made or polished, this will, without a doubt, be one of the most refreshing, enjoyable, exciting and easiest OS on the globe.

PS: I am currently using and absolutly loving the “new wave” theme (combined with the AWESOME cairo-dock). My girlfriend likes the Darkroom theme and her best friend likes the shiny blue one. Awesomeness? I’ve got a slogan: Ubuntu Linux 9.10 – The CHOICE is yours. HEHE ;D PPS: To the user above that said Ubuntu or Linux in general only offers half-baked cookies: oh well, what shall we do with the drunken sailor(moon)? It happens on Windows all the time ya know…it should be more quality instead of quantity. All these years, as a Windows and Mac user, I have been using open source stuff to do all my work, and have rarely (is that a word?) complained. My top 5: VLC, Firefox, GIMP, Rythmbox, Open Office. Oh btw…looky: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=408OfAJu3Y8 that is what I am hoping for. Even if it is not in the final build, I will most likely, if it gets finished, give it a shot. Its just very simple, clean and nice looking. Okay, you could argue about the background, but you could argue about a single color as well, so, gn8 🙂

I didnt understand what you mean by “In particular, I was happy to see the Systemgt;Shut Down/Log Out menu restored even when the fast-user switching applet is visible. This feature was removed in Jaunty, making the user-switcher menu the only easy way to end a Gnome session, which never quite felt intuitive to me.” I am using jaunty now. Can you explain on this a bit more further. ts seems to be a interestng addition. If its usefull then i am ready to tweak gnome to make it appeart in jaunty (i dont want to wait till karmic release). Currently i am using compiz and cairo dock.

Ashwin: all I meant is that in 9.10, you can log out/shut down under the Gnome “System” menu, regardless of whether you have the fast-user switching applet visible. In 9.04, those options were hidden in the System menu if the user switcher was available. This isn’t a huge change, but I thought it made more sense because it ensures greater consistency across the interface, even if it adds a little redundancy.

I don’t know how you could change the behavior in Jaunty, but I’d guess it’s an option in gconf somewhere.

I am happy to say I’m a “Linux Convert”. I started using Ubuntu back at 6.10. As a then very much a Linux Noobie, I t was the ease of installing Ubuntu that attracted me. Now, as I’ve gotten a little experienced with it, I have to admit, its appearance needs updating. Yes, I know how to configure it to my needs now, but, it wont appeal to new users as much as the Microsoft “Distract them with shiny things to stop them noticing how bad it really is” marketing edge. As for the “free verses paid for” software arguments, I have always used freeware where possible (even in my Microsoft days), however, as I’m a keen amateur photographer, I can’t find anything “freeware” that really comes close to Photoshop CS4 or Lightroom 2, and my printer (Canon Pro9000) isn’t fully supported in Linux (Through no fault of Linux really). For that reason, I’ve had to hang on to a single Windows box just to use these programs that I was happy to purchase. If these were available to run on Linux, I’d have no hesitation to PAY for these versions.

Do not call it Ubuntu Ultimate. Its just called Ultimate Edition. calling it Ubuntu Ultimate is a trademark violation of Canonical’s trademark. Ultimate is a derived operating system and NOT Ubuntu. Continuing to call it Ubuntu Ultimate only serves to dilute the trademark and cause confusion.

Thank you for the link, I found it very educational. I was not aware of the name change, But the link provided some great information, And i think the ultimate edition would not exist with out Ubuntu. I like the Ubuntu and have been very impressed with it over other distros for my needs.

What a coincidence – a week after the launch of Windows 7, Ubuntu unleash a bug-ridden new kernal to the community. Am I being cynical, or is someone on the inside helping Microsoft?

Done a clean install over my very good 9.04 version, which dual-booted with the far superior W7 (superior to 9.10, that is).

Then – no wireless connection. I went online on my desktop computer, found out i had to download certain files to enable wireless. All I had to do was plug in my Ethernet connection to the laptop to get internet connection.

Guess what? no Ethernet connection. Back to my desktop computer – yes, there’s a problem with some Ethernet connections too.

Deleted 9.10 and reinstalled 9.04.

On behalf of Bill Gates, may I thank the Ubuntu 9.10 developers for greatly assisting Microsoft by launching a crap system with so much media fanfare – so that it can be compared to Windows 7 in a very bad light.

There will be thousands of linux users throughout the world deleting 9.10, then hesitating before installing 9.04 – why not just use the whole disk for Windows 7?

Lets not forget though that gnome is much more customizable. My gnome desktop looks nothing like the default. That’s why I love it. Although it seems dry, a new look would attract new users. The new MS look basically is a combination of the bottom toolbar and the Mac dock IMO. You can easily customize the distro to look the way you want. Props for windows for making windows seven nice, but it’s too little too late for me. Lets not forget they have been around many more years

Karmic is a total joke – as soon as I upgraded by wirelss and CD drive stopped working altogether. From looking for help with this I found that everyone is in the same boat and the fixes are so specific to particular models of parts that finding one for my old lappy is impossible for me at the moment. So much for the Ubuntu claim of being simple and human!!!!!

You guys complain an awful lot about an OS thats free, and who cares about the removal of pidgin. I mean omg I have to spend 5 mins to apt-get the damn app. Seriously, if you hate it that much start programming your own linux OS and STFU.

I really do think we should look closely at the team who bundled the 9.10 distro – I have heard that Microsoft were treating Linux with respect now and are looking at ways to discredit it.

Questions that must be asked…

1. Has any Conical employee ever worked for Microsoft?

2. Why did the Ubuntu 9.10 team DELIBERATELY remove the very good wireless/ethernet CD drive default drivers that were part of 9.4?

3. Why was the 9.10 not tested? Don’t tell me it was, unless it was tested to make sure it did not work.

4. Grubber2 – what a complex, stupid way to run a dual boot system. Is it because that UBuntu have found Grubber1 to be hackable?

5. And the big question – why did Ubuntu go all out to talk to the media prior to the launch of 9.10 knowing full well it was designed not to work in some computers? Check out this…http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8326264.stm

It looks more and more like a case of sabotage, either that or Conical are just incompetent – and I don’t buy that.

The only answer is to move to another Distro and everybody in the Linux community should avoid Conical/Ubuntu until the truth comes out and the people responsible are brought to book.

Look out for a new website which will be investigating this matter in greater depth, hopefully with insider interviews.

Well people really never get to appreciate the truth behind the effort of linux makers thats why they keep on complaining But as for me having an os which is free of use and have the opportunity to learn new stuff is a reward itself. Honestly for a software like linux that is still paving its way to make it better I think because of their good principle to help is one greatness they achieve for now . There maybe some stuff missing compared to the giant microsoft os but i hope in near future they can even surpass and do more .Keep it up and continue learning God bless!!!!

Anyone who has really been following Linux and waiting for that little push that they needed to finally piss Microsoft off that cliff would not be criticising Ubuntu 9.10.
Who cares about the finer graphical points?
All I know is that I can now simply connect my Canon MP160 Scanner/Printer, my Logitech Webcam and any other hardware I own,…AND THEY WORK without having to spend hours searching for non-existent drivers that don’t work anyway if I found them.
Last night I cut the apron strings, formatted my C drive and installed Ubuntu unilaterally. Just have to shift 200gb of files off the XP backup Hard drive then format it to Linux and I’m finally free of Gates’s slave machine.
No more anti-spyware nor anti-virus applications that slow down my machine. I can perform my banking transactions without fear.
Better audio,and I can even download YouTube and Google video via FVD or several other Open source applications.
Stop whining and enjoy the freedom from M$oft, the fine tuning will come sooner than you think.
Besides SUPER DOOPER FLASHY graphics aren’t everything even if they are fun.
Remember when the Linux fonts looked like a duck dragging it’s ink stained arse across a glass coffee table? How long did it take the open source community to clean up those fonts? Well they’ll be just as fast in sorting out the minor irritations of Linux OSs.
But don’t forget to throw any loose change in Ubuntu’s developers’ way, sure it’s free but they deserve whatever support we can manage.

Here we are in 2010 and you still have less than a 20% chance of network manager actually making a connection. I hadn’t read this post earlier and want to thank Jon Biddel for the wicd mention. It’s solved all my network issues and will keep the 12 desktops and 2 servers running while I evaluate opensuse and fedora. I’ve had enough of this garbage.

The reason were all so angry (though we don’t like admitting it) is.. ubuntu is so good that we get really angry when this awsome operateing system’s future is so uncertain, really scary seeing all these changes and not knowing what the next release will take away from us. I hate the idea of haveing an “$app center$” and the whole stupid proof desktop in 9.10 is scareing me, what happend to fixing the minor bug’s?.. the whole o.s get’s odd changes with every new release!. Were angry because we care – ubuntu though free is valuable to us but we have a hard time showing appriciation (thank you ubuntu developers) ^_^ and sorry about my spelling i’m in mandriva and i’ve really goofed thing’s up.

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